Discussion Topic

We hear much on ST about off width cracks and the bizarre cult who do not avoid them, but instead,actively seek them out. The famous Yosemite examples, like the Cracks of Doom and Despair, are well documented and loom large in Valley lore. Sheridan’s caption accompanying his drawing of a depressed Camp 4 inmate hitting the wine bottle is timeless: “She left with Bridwell, all my hardware, my American Express card- and then she climbed the Crack of Doom.”

Despite the keen interest in off widths here, we hardly ever hear about the most famous off width of them all, the Fissure Brown. This pitch is on the West Face of the Aiguille de Blaitiere, in the Mont Blanc Range. The only accounts I can find of Supertopoians climbing the route are by Blakey and Base104. Both had no pictures and only sparse descriptions, so I am still unclear how wide it is, how long it is, and what the difficulties are really like. It sports a modern rating at 5.11(b) and 6(b). Pretty hard when you consider that Brown first led it in 1953.

"A crack reminiscent of Curving Crack on Cloggy led to a good ledge at the foot of a vertical wall. This was split by a huge bulging crack leaning to the left. The crack looked deceptively easy and I set off up it with my rucksack. It was not long before I realized that the pitch was liable to be as hard as some of the big cracks on Gritstone. It was completely holdless and had to be climbed by wedging one arm and leg inside it. The climbing was strenuous but straightforward up to a bulge, where I managed to fix an upside down peg behind a poor flake. Overcoming the bulge was even more strenuous and all of us tore the skin off our knees."

Rebuffat in his 100 Routes in the Mont Blanc Range is also terse:

"You now arrive at the foot of the first crack, the Fissure Brown, which is vertical with smooth edges and back (VI, very strenuous free climbing: A1 using aid with wedges or very large pitons)"

But Rebuffat does include the best picture I’ve seen of the crack itself, showing the author–nattily attired in knickers and patterned sox- in the middle of it, apparently free climbing, right side in.

However, the picture looks a bit suspicious, since on Gaston’s rack are a bevy of 4”wooden wedges and most significantly, aid slings with metal steps. It suggests that Gaston posed heroically until the shot was taken, at which time he resorted to the aid slings. Judging from the photos in his other books like Starlight and Storm, Gaston had prior experience with these sorts of shenanigans.

So until the wide crack aficionados organize a field trip across the pond and provide a current, first hand description, it would be great to hear some details from those of you who have actually climbed the route.

I was surprised at how hard it was. Most routes of that era that had ratings in the mid 5.10 range were fairly light.

From what I can remember, it is 5 to 8 inches, straight in, pretty much vertical, and not a lot of holds on the outside. Basically armbars and the usual groveling.

There were still some wooden wedges, and climbing around them was the hardest part. They were the only pro for it then, though. It is too wide for a #4 friend.

It wasn't that long. The hard part was anywhere from 30 to 80 feet. That is how poor my memory is.

Very cool pitch, and fun route in general. From pictures I have googled up it looks like most good routes now. Get in line.

I thought it was mid 5.10. Easier than Generator Crack by a long shot. It is still a route that I remember well. I didn't know all of the history when I did it, but it is a good route on good rock.

I have a really funny TR on doing that route. I get to the base and find out that my partner doesn't know how to climb. He jugged. Duane Raleigh can verify that one. Shipley is now RIP. Never trust smack-talking welsh 16 year olds....

I did this in 76, and was a bit underwhelmed by the crack, I'm no crack guru and I recall we wore our sacs and just thrashed our way up it. I reckon it to be similar to, and perhaps a bit easier than Eldar Crack on Curbar. So maybe only just 5.10

Much, much easier than Right Eliminate on Curbar - a Brown crack, and a world from Sentinel Crack on Chatsworth a Whillans test piece. Even further away from Ramshaw Crack........ All of which while on outcrops, predate the Fissure Brown methinks.

There were as described above, a selection of wide and flat, decrepit wooden wedges, I can't recall the number....

My memory is that there was harder climbing above the FB than the FB itself, but age may be taking its toll!

Ricky, Don't forget to mention The Fissure Beck, now while you are doing Fissures. It was a big effort to get that in there, especially for Beck. Lower Cathedral Rock, East Buttress. What is it, the second or third pitch? It's 5.8, a cheap slut with giant hidden holds 'n stuff. But was part of history in the Valley.

Hmm, well it looks cool in the photos and having its own theme music is novel, but does that make it most famous?

Now if we take fame to be seen by the most eyeballs, I'm nominating an equally obscure ow on a sub formation of Arizona's Pinnacle Peak. I do t remember the name, but I believe it's .11a. Anybody who has watched through Raising Arizona, has seen in it. In the scene where the lone Rider of the Apocolypse drags Nicholad Cage from under a truck it can be seen in the background.

Still I gotta think the Fissure Boysen has to be the most famous, though Century Crack is a current popular choice.

He crossed the sea to Chamonix
And to show what he could do,
He knocked three days off the record time
For the west face of the Dru-
On the unclimbed face of the Blaitière,
The crux had tumbled down-
But he cracked the crux by the crucial crack
Now known as the Fissure Brown.

Thanks for locating those photos Clint. I got the rating from Piola’s 1986 free climbing topo guide to Mont Blanc. It shows French VI b/c for the pitch, and that loosely translates to 5.11/a/b. But the first hand experiences here indicates that it is easier than that.

Now we just need to hear from someone who has done it in the last decade.

Peter-I haven’t forgotten the Fissure Beck. Here is the link to the thread where Eric Beck describes the first ascent.

Those climbs on the Blatiere are really good, and Ive done a few of them, although not the Fissure Brown. Ive seen it and it looks striking. Near the top of a route called Margaret Thatcher, my partner and I watched the hanging serac off to the right of the west fact calve off an enormous quantity of ice, maybe a condominium sized piece of ice, hit the glacier that we had walked on, and set the whole glacier off. The avalanche must have run at least a half mile down the glacier, and slid over our tracks that we made on the approach. Then there was the lightning that damn near hit us going back across the Plan.

One of the most spectacular settings Ive ever climbed rock in, although the French guidebooks do seem to overrate cracks.

Climbed the Fissure Brown in 1959 ..mountain boots. There was only one pair of double up wooden wedges in the crack at about mid hight. I attempted to flick a sling and biner over then for some pro ...both fell out and landed on my head ( no hard hats in those days)...Continue the struggle... I guess one of the first solo's!

I got a good story about that route. You need double boots and crampons to get to the start. Nothing too hard, but it is heavily crevassed and in late summer slick as snot.

So we leave our boots and crampons and then just rap the route on whatever gear we could find. Unfortunately we came down about 100 feet to the right (uphill) side of our boots. There was a nice moat.

So I had to downclimb this 30 degree slippery snot ice over a huge bottomless crevasse using the stems of two old friends as daggers and pedaling my Fire's like crazy. Somehow I made it to the boots. I was pretty wigged out so I just took my helmet off to cool off. There hadn't been so much as a pebble fall all day.

Then I hear that ripping noise of a rock coming, but there was no place to hide. The damn thing went right over my shoulder and was about the size of a grapefruit. Certain death.

So I lunge for my helmet and put it back on like it would have helped or something.

Then put the crampons on and carried everything up to Sam the Welsh Kid.

No lie. The rock stuck into the moat right near my feet. Scared the sh#t out of me. It wasn't as bad as the other routes in Chamonix, many of which shed rock like crazy, but it was a shock because the face was so quiet all day.

Paul Ross-Thanks for your contribution to this thread and welcome to Supertopo. I don't believe you've ever posted here before and it's great to have you join the conversation.

So you did it in mountain boots in 1959 and without any protection. This style is certainly in keeping with your reputation. Did you forget to mention that you carried a rucksack, like Brown on the first ascent? I somehow doubt you had a haul line in 1959. I would guess the rucksack made the chicken wings a bit more challenging?

In 1965 the Brown-Whillans route on the Blaitiere was still regarded as a tough climb. I don't recall whether my partner Mike Kosterlitz or I led the Fissure Brown - but I do remember being relieved to see several wooden wedges bristling out of the crack as we got to the base. I don't recall that we resorted to aid slings, (which in those days would have been narrow aluminum steps threaded onto nylon cord), but I do recall how dubious the wedges and their frayed cords looked. Nonetheless, we did clip in, though not without some misgivings. While it is true to say the wedges were in the way, I remember mantling up on one or two of them. That was then the style - French free; grabbing the odd piece of protection was all in the game. The object was moving quickly and safely. The then-significance of the Fissure Brown was not so much of a test piece pitch, but rather a crux section on a difficult route in the high mountains; climbed with boots, pack and so on.

Those are pretty sophisticated wedges, and in good condition. Some of those in the Fissure Brown would have been stacked. The cords were likely to have been threaded around the wedges once they were in place. Sometimes one saw a piton hammered in between the wedge and rock; these were the approaches of the day. On top of this, the wedges were soggy from snowmelt water running down, and they had been out in the elements for quite a few years. It was not a pretty picture.

In reply to Rick. In those days (1959) we climbed on a 300' 9m .The leader tied on in the middle so if you had to sack hawl you just pulled up one end .and dropped it back down. This only occured on the rare more difficult pitches , most alpine pitches we did climb with packs. I do not think Joe climbed this crack with a pack ..neither did I ... but still was a bit strenious.Of course our packs were pretty light as our gear was very primative....Thanks for the nice welcome comments on the forum...

That modern sport rating of 5.11 can't be close.
I know quite a few people who have done the Fissure Brown,
and the impression has been 5.9, because of the location,
weather, gear they have on, sometimes (as we've seen above) a
pack. You're not going to do 5.11 in a pack, I don't think.
What is more important is when the climb was done, a ways back
in time... which always makes something exponentially more difficult,
in some relative sense, due to the gear and consciousness
of the time, etc.

My partner and I did Fissure Brown (which is low on the route)and half of Blaitiere Brown-Whillans in 1986. Well, he did, sort of. Rested one or two time as I remember, whereas I heaved and pulled on gear whenever possible.

But I seem to remember written somewhere by Brown that he have a long peg in one hand which he kind of cammed sideways on certain parts of the crack. And in another text (possibly by Whillans) about the awestruck French aces, who simply couldn't figure out how the two lads had overcome the crack - with no pegs or wedges left in for the next ones....!

Here's the crack with some insitu pro (peg and a few wedges) plus our largest cam, a friend 3½ (not much help):

No problem in using the link of the photos from UKC, climbed this in 2010 with MR Lopez (I'm walts4).
Seem to remember that its wasnt too bad, still wooden chocks in the back off the crack though!

But, getting to the start was possibly the crux, a loose shelf where a slip would have been very serious.

Unable to compare totally, but seem to think that the OW on the rostrum was more difficult, or I found it so!
As blakey say, Eldar crack is easier, right eliminate harder, but then again the fissure Brown is in an alpine setting.

Not as hard as Generator Crack. If you put Generator Crack a thousand feet above a glacier approach with no pro, it would be a horror fest. As it is, the FB is doable by anyone who doesn't mind climbing worm drive style. I didn't even know much about offwidth, so it can't be that hard.

The hardest part by far was climbing around the wooden wedges. They got in the way, but were still the best pro in 1984. I think it is bigger than a #4 friend.

I did it with this Welsh kid who was following me around and pestering me. We got to the base of the route and he pulled out a set of jumars, and he jugged the whole thing. I think he was in high school or something. Duane remembers the story.

I remember the first bit vividly, as we were approaching, the 3 French in front of us in the lift/approach got well in front of us.
As we got near the face, there was a party of 2 bivied above the rimaye( easier than the German word)& they panicked as they saw us all approaching so much so that they dropped a big bandolier of gear into the rimaye.
They were English & a bit distraught. We set off behind the Frogs( no golf type etiquette there) I did the 1st easy pitch & you led the " Fissure Brown" There was at least one big unnecessary threaded wooden wedge for French Free.
I remember a bit of a thrutch of about 5b, then a traverse to the left, where we kept alternating leads.
We wore pas & sackhauled the 1st 2nd and 3rd pitches. I still have my sack with the crampon holes in it.
I remembered the rest as being OK & we put on boots, in my case edging boots & crampons with Chouinard hammers for the descent onto the glacier where the snow turned to rain etc etc.

I climbed it, probably in the early Seventies, when I was in full glory as a Valley crack climber. I figured I'd have no problem with it. But it was harder than I expected. My guess is, as others opined, maybe 5.10b ( but definitely easier than Generator Crack as someone else wrote) I think I actually ended up grabbing a wooden wedge at its crux, to my surprise and chagrin. My only rationale is that I was wearing boots not climbing shoes.